When did Criminal Records Bureau clerks become "Agents" ?
Gareth Preston, who has commented on our blog posting about the ACPO Data Retention policy (including the "Step Down Model") for the Police National Computer, lost his job at the Security Industry Authority (which licenses security guards and nightclub bouncers etc.), after he, naturally enough, applied to the
Criminal Records Bureau for a Standard Disclosure for licensing purposes.
"He received his disclosure yesterday and was “horrified” to see what was wrote on itYou say that my real name is not Gareth Preston and instead that it is Gary Paul
You then say that I was arrested in the Isle of Man on the 24 December 2002
This is wrong, I was in Chichester, West Sussex, England on this date and I have bank statements to prove this."
See ulstertower.spaces.live.com for the letters from the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Criminal Records Bureau report, which describes the incredibly bureaucratic process involved in "resolving" a false CRB Disclosure.
The process appears to involve several (about 15 !) types of "Agent" - at least one person per type of Agent, and in some cases, probably several:
- Post Room Agent
- data entry Agent
- Bureau Agents
- PNC Agents
- Super Users (Senior Agents)
- PNC matching Agent
- Unsure Agent
- Call Centre Agent
- Disputes Agent
- Customer Correspondence Agent
- Customer Correspondence Team Agent
- Sampling Agent
- Customer Relations Agent
- Complaints Agent
- Maladministration Team Agent
Surely the word "Agent" is a misnomer ? The Criminal Records Bureau employs Clerks !
The number of civilian and frontline Police staff, and IPCC staff, who were involved in making and then hopefully correcting the mistake, is uknown.
Note the number of people (at least 15 in the CRB alone) who have had access to the, in this case erroneous, personal data, and also to the correct data about a real criminal.
The correspondence is presumably based on a computer software Audit Trail of notes and amendments to the records.
The CRB only handles an alleged 2700 false CRB cockups out of 9 million CRB checks in 4 years., according to claims by the NuLabour Education Minister Alan Johnson made in June 2006.
Just think how much extra bureaucracy the National Identity Register on 60 million people is going to involve - there will have to be an entire army clerical bureaucrats (or "Agents") , to cope with the false and inaccurate information caused by human errors which will pollute the National Identity Register as soon as it is set up.
These clerical human errors e.g. a mistyped name or postal address, cannot be eliminated by biometrics.
We hope that Mr. Preston gets substantial financial compensation and a public apology from all those involved in falsely accusing him.